There's no doubt that in our business culture, we widely recognize and celebrate growth. From the Fortune 100 to the Inc. 500, the recognition of growth as a core value of business is deeply established. But growth is not guaranteed.

Do you have an exciting business concept? Perhaps it involves technology that will disrupt a market or change the world. Conventional wisdom says that, after putting in a few months of hard work on your part, designing some wireframes and mockups, writing multiple lines of code and creating a short PowerPoint pitch deck, it's time to go and seek angel investors. Or is it?